Forward Deployed Engineers: The Indispensable Role in the AI Era

The AI Paradox: More Automation, More Need for Human Expertise

We're living through an unprecedented transformation in software development. AI coding assistants are writing functions, debugging code, and even architecting entire systems. GitHub Copilot completes millions of lines of code daily. ChatGPT helps developers solve complex problems in seconds. The question everyone's asking: "Will AI replace software engineers?"

The answer is nuanced—and it reveals a critical truth about the future of technology work. Yes, AI will automate significant portions of traditional programming, data science, and software development. But this automation creates a vacuum that only human expertise can fill: the gap between technology and real business value.

What is a Forward Deployed Engineer?

Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) represent a unique hybrid role that emerged from companies like Palantir in the early 2010s. Originally called "Deltas" at Palantir, FDEs combine software engineering expertise with customer-facing implementation skills, working directly at customer sites to deliver business value.

Unlike traditional software engineers who build products in isolation, or typical consultants who primarily advise, FDEs:

• Embed with Customer Teams: They work on-site, understanding the nuances of customer operations, culture, and constraints firsthand.
• Build Custom Solutions: They develop tailored implementations that bridge the gap between generic platforms and specific business needs.
• Drive Product Evolution: Their customer insights directly inform product roadmaps, creating a feedback loop that strengthens the core platform.
• Enable Rapid Deployment: They accelerate time-to-value by combining technical depth with business context.
• Solve Real Problems: They focus on outcomes, not just outputs—ensuring technology actually solves business challenges.

As one industry observer noted: "Enterprises buying AI are like your grandma getting an iPhone: they want to use it, but they need you to set it up." This perfectly captures why FDEs are becoming increasingly critical—especially in the AI era.

Why FDEs Are More Important Than Ever in the Age of AI

1. The Implementation Challenge Has Intensified

AI systems are fundamentally different from traditional software. They require:

• Deep understanding of business context and data
• Integration with legacy systems that were never designed for AI
• Continuous monitoring, retraining, and adaptation
• Governance frameworks for responsible AI deployment
• Change management as AI transforms workflows

These challenges can't be solved by simply "installing" AI software. They require expert human guidance—exactly what FDEs provide.

2. The Automation of Automation

Here's the irony: as AI automates traditional programming, the expertise required to implement that automation increases. Consider:

• An AI can write a data processing pipeline, but understanding which data to process and why requires business context
• AI can generate ML models, but determining appropriate use cases, ensuring fairness, and managing deployment requires human judgment
• AI can integrate APIs, but architecting solutions that fit into complex enterprise environments requires deep systems thinking

FDEs bridge these gaps, using AI to accelerate implementation while applying irreplaceable human expertise to ensure solutions actually work in the real world.

3. Services-Led Growth in Enterprise AI

Research from a16z highlights a fundamental shift in how enterprise AI companies grow. Rather than the traditional SaaS playbook of self-service adoption, successful AI companies are embracing "services-led growth"—trading initial lower margins for long-term competitive moats.

This approach recognizes that:

• Enterprise AI requires deep customization and integration
• The implementation process generates invaluable data and insights
• Strong customer relationships, built through hands-on implementation, create sustainable competitive advantages
• What starts as services becomes productized knowledge, creating a virtuous cycle

FDEs are the engine of this growth model, transforming platform capabilities into customer-specific business value.

What Makes Strongly's FDEs Different

At Strongly, we've taken the FDE model and optimized it for the AI era. Our Forward Deployed Engineers don't just implement—they accelerate AI transformation using the Strongly platform as a force multiplier.

Core Capabilities

Strongly FDEs bring expertise across the full AI implementation stack:

The Strongly Platform Advantage

What sets Strongly FDEs apart is our platform-first approach. While traditional consultants build one-off solutions, Strongly FDEs leverage our enterprise AI platform to:

• Accelerate Development: Pre-built components, secure MCP servers, and agentic frameworks reduce development time by 10x.
• Ensure Security: Every solution inherits Strongly's enterprise-grade security, compliance, and governance from day one.
• Enable Scalability: Solutions built on Strongly scale seamlessly as customer needs grow.
• Facilitate Maintenance: Platform-based solutions are easier to maintain, update, and extend over time.
• Promote Reusability: Patterns and components from one engagement enhance capabilities for all future projects.

Strongly's FDE Packages: Tailored Solutions for Every Need

We've structured our FDE offerings into packages that align with different stages of AI adoption and varying levels of complexity:

Real-World Impact: FDE Case Study

Consider a global financial services firm struggling with manual compliance review processes. Traditional approaches would involve:

• Months of requirements gathering
• Building custom software from scratch
• Lengthy integration with legacy systems
• Extensive testing and validation
• Complex deployment and change management

With Strongly's FDE approach:

1. Week 1-2: FDE embeds with compliance team, understanding workflow nuances and pain points. Builds initial MVP using Strongly's agentic AI framework.
2. Week 3-4: Develops production pipeline integrating with legacy compliance systems via secure MCP servers. Implements custom ML models for anomaly detection.
3. Week 5-6: Establishes governance policies ensuring regulatory compliance. Optimizes performance to process thousands of transactions daily.
4. Week 7-8: Conducts knowledge transfer, documenting workflows and training internal teams. Deploys to production with monitoring dashboards.

Results:

• 80% reduction in manual review time
• 99% accuracy in flagging suspicious transactions
• Full audit trail for regulatory compliance
• Solution deployed in 8 weeks vs. 6-12 months traditional timeline
• Client team capable of maintaining and extending the system

The Skills That Can't Be Automated

What makes FDEs irreplaceable, even as AI automates more tasks? It comes down to uniquely human capabilities:

Business Context and Judgment

AI can process data and identify patterns, but understanding why a business operates a certain way, the political dynamics of change, and the strategic implications of technical decisions—these require human insight gained through experience.

Creative Problem Solving

Every enterprise is unique. FDEs excel at adapting general-purpose AI platforms to specific contexts, often requiring creative solutions that blend technology, process, and people in novel ways.

Trust and Relationship Building

Implementation success often hinges on trust—between consultant and client, between technical teams and business stakeholders. FDEs build these relationships through empathy, communication, and demonstrated expertise.

Ethical Reasoning

As AI systems impact critical business decisions, questions of fairness, bias, and responsible use become paramount. FDEs navigate these complex ethical considerations, applying human values to technical implementations.

The Future of Work: From Coding to Consulting

The shift from traditional software engineering to forward deployed engineering reflects a broader transformation in technology work. As AI handles more of the "how" of implementation, human expertise becomes increasingly valuable for the "what" and "why."

This doesn't mean traditional engineering skills become irrelevant—quite the opposite. The best FDEs are exceptional engineers. But their value lies in applying those skills to solve real business problems, not just writing code.

Why Choose Strongly's FDE Program

As AI transforms how enterprises operate, implementation expertise becomes the key differentiator. Strongly's FDE program offers:

• Proven Platform: Solutions built on battle-tested enterprise AI infrastructure
• Accelerated Delivery: Platform capabilities enable 10x faster implementation vs. custom development
• Enterprise-Grade Security: Built-in compliance, governance, and security from day one
• Sustainable Solutions: Platform-based implementations that evolve with your needs
• Knowledge Transfer: Your team gains expertise, not just a delivered solution
• Ongoing Innovation: Access to cutting-edge AI capabilities as our platform evolves

Conclusion: The Human Element in AI Implementation

As AI automates more of traditional software development, the role of Forward Deployed Engineers becomes increasingly critical. These professionals bridge the gap between powerful AI platforms and real business value, combining technical expertise with business acumen and human judgment.

At Strongly, we're building the future of AI implementation—where world-class FDEs, equipped with a comprehensive enterprise AI platform, accelerate transformation while ensuring solutions are secure, compliant, and genuinely valuable.

The question isn't whether AI will change software development—it already has. The question is: who will guide enterprises through this transformation, ensuring AI delivers real business value? That's the domain of Forward Deployed Engineers, and it's a domain where human expertise will remain indispensable for decades to come.

References

1. Gergely Orosz. (2024). "Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs)". The Pragmatic Engineer.
2. Angela Strange. (2024). "Services-Led Growth: The New Go-to-Market for Enterprise AI". Andreessen Horowitz.
3. Palantir Technologies. "Forward Deployed Software Engineer Role".